


Love and Dying, Per the Sea

by Axel_Knochenmus



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Hanahaki Disease, M/M, Minor Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Nico-centric, One-Sided Nico di Angelo/Percy Jackson, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Unrequited Crush, not really percico
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-25
Updated: 2018-06-25
Packaged: 2019-05-28 07:10:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15043478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Axel_Knochenmus/pseuds/Axel_Knochenmus
Summary: Nico knew that Percy mother fucking Jackson would be the literal death of him. He just wished it was literally any other way than this. If he cut Nico’s throat, stabbed him in the chest, or the gut, or even just cut off his head, dropped him off a cliff, drowned and left him for dead at the bottom of the ocean - any of that would be less painful than the gods damned flowers in his lungs.





	Love and Dying, Per the Sea

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like to be pretty upfront about what I'm writing, so sorry, anyone looking through the percico tag and this being, well, not. But it's something of a vehicle to drive the rest of this particular work. This probably isn't a conventional use of the trope, but I promise no one dies for it. I just had an idea I couldn't help but want to play with. It'll, probably be like?? idk 4-6 chapters. pls bear with me.

Nico was choking, feelings caught in his throat, and _then_ –

He had no idea what was going on, he couldn’t think anymore. He'd just been figuring out what he could do to try and help Percy when  _this._ His own hands clawed at this throat is he spat up pink and red. Something tasted green in the back of his throat, leafy and ticklish in a painful way that shouldn’t be happening. Hunched over on the ground, Nico imagined that maybe he was dying, and he didn’t even know why.

Dimly, he was aware of someone approaching him. One of the gods, he thought, as he spat out the plant on his tongue and looked up at them, only to see his stepmother and be filled with a sense of dread.

He and Persephone didn’t exactly get along. She tolerated him for the most part, but he was a reminder of his father’s infidelity. A rather big one, given the age gap between him and his sister. Plus, a month ago he’d accidentally killed some flowers from her garden in a panic. She’d demanded that he help her replant the area, and get new flowers to fill the space. He figured that was what this was about.

Anyone who thought Persephone was sweet or kind because she was the goddess of flowers, and flowers were pretty and delicate, had obviously forgotten who her family was. Zeus’s regality, Demeter’s viciousness - everything that made her a formidable figure to any who faced her. Some thought that Hades made her harsh, but Nico knew better. She stared at him with an expression unreadable, approaching slowly til she knelt next to him.

He wanted to ask why she was there, but his throat was too raw, his lungs burning and full. He wasn’t coughing anymore, but he was too exhausted to retaliate her unjustified punishment. That was probably the point.

She placed a hand on his chest, but he was unable to move away. Her hand glowed softly, and he could smell flowers, and as she pulled her hand away, a plant extracted from his chest along with it. Nico stared dumbly at the frilled pink petals of the bloom, his eyes trailing down to the bits he’d coughed up with mild recognition. Something in the back of his mind about the one thing Aphrodite and Persephone had set their differences aside to work for together, but it was out of his reach.

“You owed me flowers, but this is hardly the way you should have gone about it, child of Maria.” The sadness in her voice startled him.

Nico swallowed, asking with a voice barely more than a croak, “What– is…?”

She hushed him with a look, shaking her head. “Not something you should have. It’s gone by many names over the years, but the one that stuck the most… It is known as Hanahaki. The flower disease of unrequited love.”

Nico felt sick. His gaze was glued to the floral mass in Persephone’s palm “That’s no –, I’m not –, It _can’t_ –”

“Dianthus, Bath’s Pink. _Boldness_.” Persephone paused. “Yes, I do believe that Percy Jackson could certainly be described as bold.”

Like a trigger was flipped, Nico could feel his chest trying to seize again, but this time there was nothing to cough up and it turned into a dry heave as his body and the disease rebelled against each other. Persephone touched him again, and the feeling subsided once more.

“Your body cannot sustain this, it overtakes you too quickly.” Her lips pursed.

“Isn’t there, a cure?” Nico struggled to keep his breathing even while he tried to recall. “Surgery, I think?”

Her head shakes before he’s even finished speaking. “It’s too dangerous, at your age. There are too many emotions mixed up within one another and changes in your body. The best we can do is try to mitigate it for as long as possible, and hope you survive long enough to take it eventually, or your heart overcomes it on your own.”

A numb feeling overcame him. This was it, he was going to die. Percy Jackson was going to kill him, just like he expected. Because Nico couldn’t hate him enough, because –

It was then that Persephone’s wording dawned on him. “We?”

She hmmed lightly in affirmation. “I cannot remove it entirely. I can take the flowers, but the feelings are rooted too deeply and are beyond my power. But, I can help. We can keep the worst of it at bay, if you do as I say. It can buy you years, at least, though I cannot promise it will be enough.”

Nico thought about that. ‘Keeping the worst of it at bay’ meant he would still feel it, no doubt, but he could still fight. He wasn’t ready to give up the metaphorical ghost. _Maybe he could–_ No, getting Percy to love him was probably impossible, wasn’t it? He could try… “Why? What -” He coughed, more from the strain on his throat than anything, but it still sent a spark of terror down his spine. “What do you want for helping me?”

“I want you to live.”

Nico stared at her in disbelief. She couldn’t be serious, she barely even tolerated him, didn’t she?

She smiled with amusement, clearly knowing what he was thinking. “I do not despise you so much as you may think. I would say that sometimes I like you _too_ much, that I risk favoring you more than I should. I do not think it is your time to fall, Nico di Angelo, when you still have yet to rise.”

The last thing Nico would have accused Persephone of is favoring him too much, but he figured this wasn’t the time to argue that point when she was all he had to survive this… _curse_. Disease felt like it was too soft of a word for the whole thing. He nodded his agreement to her, and the way her smile changed almost made him believe that she actually cared and wasn’t somehow getting something out of this, or going to use it against him in some way, as the gods are wont to do.

“Good, now, I need you to follow to my instructions very carefully…”


End file.
